REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. Al 
3. Another octavo series, consisting of the annual reports of the 
Institution to Congress, called ‘‘ Smithsonian Reports,’’ of which 
eleven volumes have been published. 
The Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge include memoirs em- 
bracing the records of extended original investigations and researches 
resulting in what are believed to be new truths, and constituting 
positive additions to the sum of human knowledge. 
The series of Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections contains reports 
on the present state of our knowledge of particular branches of 
science ; instructions for collecting and digesting facts and materials 
for research ; lists and synopses of species of the organic and inor- 
ganic world ; museum catalogues ; reports of explorations ; aids to 
bibliographical investigations, &c,; generally prepared at the express 
request of the Institution, and at its expense. 
The Annual Reports include the official reports of the Secretary to 
the Board of Regents of the operations and condition of the Institu- 
tion ; the reports of committees of the board ; abstracts of lectures 
delivered before the Institution; extracts from correspondence; origi- 
nal or translated articles relating to the history and progress of 
science, &c. 
The following rules have been observed in the distribution of the 
first and second series: 
1. They are presented to all learned societies of the first class 
which publish transactions, and give copies of these, in exchange, 
to the Institution. 
2. To all foreign libraries of the first class, provided they give in 
exchange their catalogues and other publications, or an equivalent, 
from their duplicate volumes. 
3. To all the colleges in actual operation in this country, provided 
they furnish, in return, meteorological observations, catalogues of 
their libraries and of their students, and all other publications issued 
by them relative to their organization and history. 
4. To all States and Territories, provided they give, in return, 
copies of all documents published under their authority. 
5. To all incorporated public libraries in this country, not included 
in any of the foregoing classes, now containing 10,000 volumes; and 
to smaller libraries, where a whole State or large district would be 
otherwise unsupplied. 
Institutions devoted exclusively to the promotion of particular 
branches of knowledge receive such articles published by the Insti- 
tution as relate to their objects. Portions of the series are also given 
